Welcome to Boston ...

The coastal city of Boston is located in Suffolk County<1>. It is the County Seat and the capital of Massachusetts.

Boston was settled in 1625.

When the people of Boston refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Bostonian<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Boston has a population of 694,661 people<3> (see below for details).

The community of Boston is near sea level<4>.

Time Zone: Boston lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Telephone area codes for Boston: (617) and (857)<5>

The ZIP codes for Boston: 02101-02125, 02127-02128, 02133, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201-02212, 02215-02217, 02222, 02241, 02266, 02283-02284, 02293, 02295, 02297<6>

Websites for Boston ...

Official Website:   www.cityofboston.gov/

Junior League:   www.jlboston.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Boston had an population of 694,661 people. This is an increase of 12.48% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 17.91% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Boston had a population of 617,594 people (which is 85.54% of the total population of Suffolk County). This makes Boston the county's most populous community.

The population of Boston represents 9.43% of the total population of Massachusetts (which has 6,547,629 people), making it the state's most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 617,594 people, the population of Boston increased 4.83% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 589,141 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Boston.

Communities Also Named Boston ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 37 communities that are also named Boston - they are located in Alabama (2), Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (5), Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri (4), New York, Ohio (5), Ontario (2), Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia (3) and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Boston.

Communities near Boston ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Boston.

• Brockton
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brockton
  • Brockton is located in Plymouth County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 95,770 people
• Lynn
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
  • Lynn is located in Essex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 94,539 people
• Quincy
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quincy
  • Quincy is located in Norfolk County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 94,421 people
• Newton
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton
  • Newton is located in Middlesex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 87,803 people
• Framingham
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Framingham
  • Framingham is located in Middlesex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 73,892 people
• Waltham
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waltham
  • Waltham is located in Middlesex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 62,069 people
• Weymouth
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weymouth
  • Weymouth is located in Norfolk County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 58,104 people
• Peabody
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
  • Peabody is located in Essex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,063 people
• Arlington
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
  • Arlington is located in Middlesex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 45,169 people
• Salem
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salem
  • Salem is located in Essex County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 43,581 people

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Boston. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Boston.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Boston. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Boston.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Boston. Our list includes 1,157 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Boston.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Boston ...

Looking for more information about Boston? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Boston, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Boston.

Adding Boston to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Boston in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Boston was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

From that list, the Boston post office opened in 1639.

We also found Boston in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Boston.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Boston: www.cityofboston.gov/

The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/